Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men explores themes of dreams, loneliness, equality and relationships that parallel many of the other texts we have read this year. Which theme do you think is most important? What is the "truth" about that theme revealed in the novel?
I think dreams are the most important them in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The truth about dreams is that they don't always come true. George and Lennie had the dream of having their own place, but when Lennie dies, so does their dream. We have those dreams that we really believe will come true, but when they don't all we did was set ourselves up for disapointment. Lennie and George's dream did exactly that. Prompt #4 (March 30): Truth in Great Expectations
In the novel, Pip has many expectations for himself such as becoming of a higher social status and marying Estella. When Pip realizes this is unrealistic for him because of his low social standing, he learns a key moral, that social class isn't as important as being a good person. I think we all set ourselves high, unrealistic expectations sometimes just so we can realize the real expectations we should be having for ourselves. There are also consequences to these expectations, but in the end we learn morals from them. I have expectations of getting high grades and getting into a good college. My consequences are working hard in school, but my moral would be that I set these expectations up for myself but didn't realize how hard they would be to obtain.
Prompt #3 (January 6): Truth in To Kill a Mockingbird In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we see many issues of growing up and fairness. As we grow up, we are vey ignorrant. When we tend to know less, we seem to be happier as opposed to knowing too much in the corrurted world. It's like the saying, ignorrance is bliss. In the novel, Scout and Jem know about what it's like growing up in the south, but they don't exactly know the concept of a lot of things Atticus tells them. As the story escalates, the children start to understand a little better. When they go to Tom Robinson's trial, they don't understand a lot, although Jem thinks he does, but they still go on with their lives happily. The same goes for fairness. The children don't really understand why people of different races, such as the blacks, are treated differently. Especially since Atticus is teaching them that they are exactly the same as everyone else. They learn that what everyone else thinks is fair, really isn't. By the end of the novel, they learn the difference between right and wrong.
Prompt #2 (November 6): Truth in Lord of the Flies William Golding expresses a lot of truth in Lord of the Flies. He leaves a message of what society really is and what would happen if it fell apart. He also shows how we all have a "beast within" and how it takes something for it come out. Sometimes it takes stressful, angry emotions, and sometimes it takes certain people to get this beast to come out. In the novel, Jack's "inner beast" comes out when the question of rescue comes up. Are people searching for them? Will they even be found? Or will they be left there to die? Ralph still believes that they are going to get rescued, so his "inner beast" doesn't exactly show, while Jack starts to stress about rescue. By thinking this, he begins to fall apart. This causes him to harm not only himself and his desires, hope, and want of rescue, but he begins to loose all hope, making him harm others too. Once the boys are finally rescued, he realizes all the harm he has done and that he should've acted more civilized and followed Ralph all along.
Prompt #1 (October 6): What is the “truth” of mythology? In my opinion, truth in mythology isn't exactly true. Mythology was just something people in ancient times made up to understand their world better. In our time today, we understand the world better than they did. When we look back at ancient mythology, it makes sense of how things came to be, but that doesn't mean it's always true. In Grandmother Spider Steals the Fire, the myth makes sense of how fire came to be and why the animals have no feathers on their heads etc., but we know the myth is not true. But ancient people believed it. I think this is because they didn't know as much as our civilization does today. My theory, the more you know, the less you believe. If you know all about how something came to be, you will know that it makes perfect sense and is true. But the real question is, is what we know the myth?
0Prompt #5 (April 3): Truth in Of Mice and Men
Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men explores themes of dreams, loneliness, equality and relationships that parallel many of the other texts we have read this year. Which theme do you think is most important? What is the "truth" about that theme revealed in the novel?
I think dreams are the most important them in Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. The truth about dreams is that they don't always come true. George and Lennie had the dream of having their own place, but when Lennie dies, so does their dream. We have those dreams that we really believe will come true, but when they don't all we did was set ourselves up for disapointment. Lennie and George's dream did exactly that. Prompt #4 (March 30): Truth in Great Expectations
In the novel, Pip has many expectations for himself such as becoming of a higher social status and marying Estella. When Pip realizes this is unrealistic for him because of his low social standing, he learns a key moral, that social class isn't as important as being a good person. I think we all set ourselves high, unrealistic expectations sometimes just so we can realize the real expectations we should be having for ourselves. There are also consequences to these expectations, but in the end we learn morals from them. I have expectations of getting high grades and getting into a good college. My consequences are working hard in school, but my moral would be that I set these expectations up for myself but didn't realize how hard they would be to obtain.
Prompt #3 (January 6): Truth in To Kill a Mockingbird In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, we see many issues of growing up and fairness. As we grow up, we are vey ignorrant. When we tend to know less, we seem to be happier as opposed to knowing too much in the corrurted world. It's like the saying, ignorrance is bliss. In the novel, Scout and Jem know about what it's like growing up in the south, but they don't exactly know the concept of a lot of things Atticus tells them. As the story escalates, the children start to understand a little better. When they go to Tom Robinson's trial, they don't understand a lot, although Jem thinks he does, but they still go on with their lives happily. The same goes for fairness. The children don't really understand why people of different races, such as the blacks, are treated differently. Especially since Atticus is teaching them that they are exactly the same as everyone else. They learn that what everyone else thinks is fair, really isn't. By the end of the novel, they learn the difference between right and wrong.
Prompt #2 (November 6): Truth in Lord of the Flies William Golding expresses a lot of truth in Lord of the Flies. He leaves a message of what society really is and what would happen if it fell apart. He also shows how we all have a "beast within" and how it takes something for it come out. Sometimes it takes stressful, angry emotions, and sometimes it takes certain people to get this beast to come out. In the novel, Jack's "inner beast" comes out when the question of rescue comes up. Are people searching for them? Will they even be found? Or will they be left there to die? Ralph still believes that they are going to get rescued, so his "inner beast" doesn't exactly show, while Jack starts to stress about rescue. By thinking this, he begins to fall apart. This causes him to harm not only himself and his desires, hope, and want of rescue, but he begins to loose all hope, making him harm others too. Once the boys are finally rescued, he realizes all the harm he has done and that he should've acted more civilized and followed Ralph all along.
Prompt #1 (October 6): What is the “truth” of mythology? In my opinion, truth in mythology isn't exactly true. Mythology was just something people in ancient times made up to understand their world better. In our time today, we understand the world better than they did. When we look back at ancient mythology, it makes sense of how things came to be, but that doesn't mean it's always true. In Grandmother Spider Steals the Fire, the myth makes sense of how fire came to be and why the animals have no feathers on their heads etc., but we know the myth is not true. But ancient people believed it. I think this is because they didn't know as much as our civilization does today. My theory, the more you know, the less you believe. If you know all about how something came to be, you will know that it makes perfect sense and is true. But the real question is, is what we know the myth?